September 25, 2006

1
I think the reason you can make fun of every religious person except muslims is that it's only innocent muslims who are being killed by war in large numbers EVERY day in their own, home countries. The innocents maybe aren't targeted, but that's the reality of the situation.
So basically, until I see South Park mocking 1930s, german Jews, I continue to remain skeptical about whether or not muslims in 2006 should be mocked.
Which is too bad, because I'm very much a fan of mocking every religion all the time.

Posted by: Will at September 25, 2006 09:24 PM (H4u2c)

2
So Cartman dressing like Hitler and marching the people of South Park through the streets chanting "Wir mussen die Juden ausraten" doesn't count?

The first thing two of my best high school friends said when I walked up to them at the reunion was "Hey, we found your blog!" Gulp. All of a sudden I was completely self-conscious, and I still can't shake the feeling. Neither of them said anything to lead me to believe they agree (or disagree) with anything I say here. They just read it. And I don't like it.

Again, I can't help but think about what Tim said about Polite Company. (I swear, this is probably the post that I think about more than any other blog post that's ever been written.) My blog thoughts are never anything I would every want to discuss during a five minute conversation at my reunion. All of a sudden I felt naked, like everything controversial I've ever said was right there in the open. I was embarrassed, and the more I think about it, the stranger I feel.

I have a friend from high school who's Muslim. Devout Muslim. And we're most certainly still friends...because we both believe in Polite Company. What if he were to find my blog? Even though everything I write here is how I honestly feel, I still can't stand the thought of him finding it and learning everything all at once. What if he were hit with the full force of this blog instead of gradually discussing issues face to face, the way people used to get to know each other before blogs?

I can't stop wondering what these two friends are thinking. Do they talk about how crazy I am? These are two people I really look up to and admire, two of the smartest men I've ever known; what do they think of me now that they know every intimate detail about the inside of my brain?

Right now I feel so uneasy that I can't even stand to blog. It's not normal for your old friends to know the entirety of your personal and political beliefs when you don't know a single thing about theirs. It's a consequence of blogging that I wasn't quite prepared for, and to be honest it makes me feel ill.

2
Being that they're from the same high school as you, I doubt they think anti-muslim musings are crazy. However, they might think you're crazy once they read this five-paragraph post about themselves.

Posted by: Will at September 25, 2006 09:05 AM (H4u2c)

3
Honesty can only be respected. I don't agree with alot of what you write... I've even been angry at times. But, I am still here at least a couple times a week, because none of it is sugarcoated. I have a lot of respect for you and your writings. I always know that I will get an honest opinion about a perspective that I would not necessarily have, and that, to me, is very valuable.

7
Sarah - politics are regional, that's why I made that "enormous" conclusion. I just really wish conservative opinions challenged my own in any way. I'd probably seek them out more if that were the case.

10
Heh well, trust me, I don't *want* it to be blue. I'm just saying I think it's ridiculous for Will to think that he can guess someone's worldview based on where she went to high school. FYI, one of my best friends is dating a guy who works for Obama. My friend group isn't nearly as monotone as Will would like to think.

Posted by: Sarah at September 26, 2006 08:45 AM (bw5Sm)

11
Having been raised in the South and learning about polite company, the reason you stay away from religon and politics is they are too prone to cause argument and raised voices. My wife won't discuss politics with anyone other than me, not even inside her family. For me, I like to discuss politics and I don't get upset when people raise their voice, it is part of the fun. Of course, you don't have such conversations in Church or around loaded fire arms. But there is a difference between a raised voice from passion and calling some one a nitwit or worse. Once the insults start, discussion has stopped. The Democratic process is supposed to be built on debate. People should be able to give their opinion and it should be shot down if possible. Often, we must choose the least bad decision. Too often we want a perfect decision or one defended by our ego. I read Sarah's Blog because her opinions make me think and examine my own. Her opinions and writting are good enough to have caused me to change my mind. I think that's a damned good compliment.
Sarah, if people don't like your opinion, let them state why. If they want to call you names, they are worth the electrons their opion is written on.

Posted by: Xopher at September 27, 2006 12:40 PM (surHd)

12
Sorry, that was supposed to be they aren't worth the elctrons they are written on.

14
Sarah~
Don't listen to Will. If it's the same dude that I think it is, he used to leave retarded arguements on TheQuestingCat's site.
Anyhow, there's been a lot of talk on the blogs (that I read) lately about posting or not posting due to recognition or offensive issues.... The collective sum is, "Don't worry about it."
Easier said than done, that's for sure. But don't stop! I think that plenty of folks really enjoy reading you (I know I do!!). And the Wills of this world apparently can't stop reading you....
I'm still trying to figure out how to keep blogging.... It's very addictive...

September 23, 2006

SPURLOCK SEEMS FULL OF BALONEY

Hud found a study that tried to replicate the Super Size Me movie and had vastly different results. My husband and I would like to try to replicate Spurlock's stint with poverty. We watched him on Oprah talk about how impossible it was to live on so little money...and then he takes his niece and nephew to the movies and buys everyone popcorn and candy. So the moral of the story is that it's hard to live like a baller on little money? Duh.

I honestly think I could live on minimum wage. Heck, we don't even try and we only spend half my husband's paycheck, and I spend $400 a month at the grocery store on gourmet mushrooms and cheeses. If we really tried, like going to Aldi and having my husband ride his bike three times a day to work instead of just one, we could cut that down to next to nothing. And we sure as heck wouldn't be 1) going to the movie or 2) buying outrageous Junior Mints there. If we were so inclined (and we might not be, since I love cooking and cable TV), we could spend very little money. To be honest, all we could think about while watching Spurlock on Oprah is how hard it would be for us to stay on minimum wage. If for some reason we both had to start from the bottom again, we'd race each other back to the top. Night school, adult education, something so that we'd make more money. And we wouldn't spend a dime more than we had to. Spurlock just sat around his apartment and complained about how much better his old life was and how hard it was to be poor.

Actually, the real experiment we missed out on came as a tardy inspiration. I should've gotten a job at Walmart when we moved here and seen how I was treated for the six months. That would've been interesting blogging.

1
Blogging about Wallmart is the best. Now excuse me while I login into my mycoke account.

Posted by: Will at September 23, 2006 10:02 AM (H4u2c)

2
I watched the same episode and had a similar reaction to yours.
What I couldn't understand is how people that have to live in shelters or get public assistance can "afford" $300 car payments and cell phone bills (when they make $700 a month, or however much). Scout and I aren't anywhere near living in poverty, but our car payment certainly isn't even close to that much.
Hmmm...and they wonder why they can't afford medical their medical bills...

3
Sarah,
First of all, I just wanted to say that I've been reading your blog for a while now. We have a couple of mutual friends, and I think our husbands know each other. :-)
Second of all, I completely agree with you. I know that my husband and I could live on much less than we do now, because we've done it before. It wasn't pleasant, but definitely possible. In some ways, life was simpler back then. Even now, if I really want to see a movie in the theater (sometimes there's nothing like it), I just wait a few weeks until they show it in our $2 theater here. Sorry, I just don't see the point in spending over $7 to see a movie that I can wait a little while and see for $2.
I really enjoy reading your page, and I even agree with quite a bit of what you write. Keep it up!

4
I would suggest trying to live on minimum wage here in New Jersey, you might find it to be near immpossible. You may scoff but think of this: the average apartment rent here in NJ is $800.00 a month, throw in another $200.00 a month for utilities minimum, and you've already exceeded the full one year pay of one person @ minimum wage. C'mon tell us how to live on minimum wage, especially when you get housing, and medical for free, and pay reduced rates @ the commisary and PX/BX. Seriously do the math.

Posted by: BubbaBoBobBrain at September 24, 2006 07:35 AM (8ruhu)

5
People aren't meant to live on minimum wage. It's for teenagers and people who can't speak english.

Posted by: Will at September 24, 2006 10:44 AM (H4u2c)

6
I've got plenty of money myself and I look at the so called Pooor and ask myslf "what's your problem?"
If everybody
could just be more like me, we wouldn't be having all these problems

Posted by: Norton at September 24, 2006 12:09 PM (EegKo)

7
I'm going to have to agree with one of the above commentors. I think the biggest obstacle to living on the current minimum wage is the almost across-the-board high housing cost in this country, never mind the states that far surpass "high" and cross over into absolutely ridiculous housing costs. The cost of a typical basket of goods doesn't differ much from place to place but the housing costs certainly do.

8
Yeah, no one should live on minimum wage in New Jersey. But why on earth does a guy working taking blood *need* to live in New Jersey? Move your family of four to Iowa and make roughly the same salary but with WAY lower cost of living! There are ways to live better, but usually the hard luck stories are people who can't make it in LA or East coast where housing is astronomical. Rent in Kirksville, MO, is $385/mo for 1100 sq feet, and you flip the same burgers you'd flip in NJ. Why not move there?

Posted by: Sarah at September 24, 2006 05:40 PM (bw5Sm)

9
Been there done that. Shoulder messed up too badly to work. VA comp being taken by congress to pay off my separation pay (on a side note I've finally gotten to see my first VA check recently after ten years of VA disability). My wife working at Taco Bell, and me silently furious over the traumatic realization of my own mortality.
It sucks, it's hard, and it requires making sacrifices. It is also doable so long as you make the sacrifices. No cable, don't buy CD's, don't rent movies, don't go to the movies, sell the crap you accumulated but couldn't bear to part with, then move the hell out of the city, no eating out, drive a Ford Model POS, and learn something about keeping it running. Turn the dang lights off, don't run the AC when it's only 90, and grazing with the fridge door open. Choose cheap dial-up so you can keep net access for e-mail and help job search. Be willing to walk when you don't have to go cross town, and use public transportation when available.
It really sucked and it is even more difficult when you're coming off life with a 70k/year job, but it is doable and transitory. Oh, and with sacrifice you can afford a treat of the movies every so often. When I was growing up (dirt poor) we had a banana split once a month at Alex's Drive In (window trays, roller skates and all) and a movie every three to four months. That was in Hawai'i where it was $800/month decades ago.
Kalroy

10
Ever heard of a "zero yen house?" That's Japanese for "zero dollar house." Apparently in Japan there's a whole rising niche of architecture specifically designed to cost no money, with houses usually located in the trees or under a bridge. They do things like hook up solar panels to modified storage containers and some of them even have gardens. Anyway, if you consider the way minimum wage is going and the way Walmart pays minimum wage and the way Walmart is putting every decent local business out of business, I'm sure we'll all be needing to think about stuff like this soon.

Posted by: Will at September 25, 2006 12:42 AM (H4u2c)

11
I don't make minimum wage, in fact I make about twice minimum as does my wife, I work at least 48 hours a week, she about 20-28. Even with the money we make it is a struggle. Add in an autistic 14 year old son and diabetic 13 year old daughter, and ...well you can imagine how expensive it can be. I really can't leave the north east to cut costs as my son's care would suffer, see while we pay ridiculous taxes here in NJ it is one of the top five states in which to rear an autistic/handicapped child. Curious thing all the top five are here in the north eastern part of the nation. the next tier are California, Oregon, and Washington notice a pattern here Sarah?? Sure I could move to oh say North Carolina, but the programs for handicapped kids down there generally suck... remember low taxes = low/lousy services. I just hope you never have to face the dilemma we do.

One of our friends from OBC was wounded two years ago in the fight in Mosul that launched CBFTW to fame. He's back in the saddle now, and there's an article about him explaining the differences between Iraq then and now.

September 20, 2006

NEIGHBOR

James Lileks hosted an open house this weekend. All I could think about these past few days -- and even moreso this morning when I read today's bleat/screed -- was how lucky some people are to be neighbors with James Lileks. People get to hang out with this man. My husband and I got this little fantasy going yesterday, that we could move in next to Jasperwood and time starting a family just right so that Gnat could be our babysitter. Do his real neighbors know how lucky they are?

September 19, 2006

The white one is Tasha from knitty.com, inspired by The Girl's version. The brown one was my first felting experience, using the salvaged Unikat wool that Charlie tried to eat. Actually, I've discovered that Charlie has expensive taste: he couldn't care less about the cheapy yarn I use to make teddies, but he grabs the nice wool and runs under the bed with his treasure.

I'm flying home this weekend for my reunion, so I looked up what is not permitted on the plane these days. I can take a corkscrew but not a chapstick? OK. I'm just taking my wallet and a book.

I also ran across this horrifying account of a mother watching her seven year old son get felt up by airport screeners (via RWN). She's right: is it really making us safer for someone to thoroughly check her kid's underroos? Sad.

2
Ugh. Don't even get me started on this. I wasn't as well prepared as you always seem to be, so I didn't check online before I left for my flight a couple of weeks ago. But I was sure to ask the lady at the ticketing counter if I had anything that should be packed in my checked luggage. She said what I had was fine.
So I got to security, and they must have taken about $20 worth of stuff out of my purse. I was ticked off. Not at them - they were just doing their jobs - but at those terrorist f-ers that are making it impossible for normal people to bring lip gloss on the airplane.

3
Even little Freddie must have looked like a terrorist this past weekend when we flew home from Albany. He had on little shoes and just as I went to walk us through the metal detector, the security person made me take off his shoes. I just smiled and said ok. Other passengers were more upset than I was. I guess we were kinda slow going through all the checks with a 5 person family. Good thing the boys' shoes are velcro, otherwise I would have stopped up the line tying their shoes...hehehe!

4
I missed my flight by 15 minutes (lost in a
strange city) so I automatically got tagged
to be searched by security. They claimed it
was 'random',but please. It's because I didn't
show up for my flight. I was fine with it,they
had to do what they had to do,but come on! In
my pale pink linen dress with matching coat..was
I really who they needed to worry about?

Posted by: MaryIndiana at September 21, 2006 05:18 AM (YwdKL)

5
We let them get away with far too much in the name of so called "safety"! Since I no longer have to travel with children, anyone who tries their "feel-up" fun with me will be reported. I'm a big enough girl to miss a plane for a principle. I will make a fuss and I will have the police called. There is no excuse for such behavior. They know perfectly well that there isn't anything being carried on in a bra like that. This doesn't keep us safe, it's creating jobs for sexual perverts. It's gross!
If we all started creating a fuss and reporting inappropriate touching - this crap would stop really quick! The thing is, once she got upset and said she wanted to report it - they suddenly hussled them through and were done. Now nothing has been reported and those people are still getting their jollies from unsuspecting women and children.

September 18, 2006

WORDS vs ACTIONS

I just saw an interview with Maswan Rasmoudi from the Center for Islam and Democracy. (Or Raswan Masmoudi from the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, as the only google hit came up with. What the heck -- did John Gibson just get it totally wrong? I wrote it down word for word from the TV.)

Anyway, whoever this guy was, he gave the usual speech that Islam is being corrupted by a small minority of people who are attacking the Pope. Naturally, that's not mainstream Islam. OK.

It's easy to cherrypick certain ayat to show how messed up Islam is. Of importance now are the sword verses, those that say

to "fight and slay the pagan (idolaters) wherever you find them" (sura 9:5); or "strike off their heads in battle" (sura 47:5); or "make war on the unbeliever in Allah, until they pay tribute" (sura 9:29); or "Fight then... until the religion be all of it Allah's" (sura 8:39); or "a grievous penalty against those who reject faith" (sura 9:3).

These are certainly troubling passages, but there's plenty of troubling stuff in the Bible as well. In my opinion, the texts are not nearly as important as what followers do with the information.

I've never been 100% convinced that the Bible explicitly comes out against homosexuality. But I don't deny the fact that most Christians read the verses as admonishment and on the whole have adopted the worldview that homosexuality is wrong. No matter what the actual words of the translation of the Bible say, or no matter how I think they could be interpreted, it is a fact that most Christians aren't thrilled with homosexuality. It's the actions that matter, not the words that were written down 2000 years ago.

So when Raswan Masmoudi says that these Koran ayat are being taken out of context and abused by Osama bin Laden and a "minority" of angry Muslims, I call b.s. on him. It doesn't matter how he and his friends at the Center want to interpret the verses; what matters is that real live actual journalists were threatened with their lives if they didn't convert.

I can try to convince Christians that the verses against homosexuality are just as outdated as the slavery or "unclean during your period" verses until I'm blue in the face, but that doesn't make Christianity as a whole keen on homosexuality. Similarly, these folks can keep saying that Islam is a religion of peace and that jihad is a personal struggle, but that doesn't mean that it's going to bear out in reality. In reality, Muslims are threatening to assassinate the Pope.

You can't change the actions of a religion by claiming that verses of the holy book have been taken out of context. What matters is the actions.

MORE TO GROK:

Amritas makes a good point: A big difference between Islam and Christianity is that the words matter so much more in Islam. I remember accidentally starting a fight in my linguistics class because I asked how Allah could dictate the Koran but Mohammad wrote it down with no vowels. The vowels are what matter in Arabic! How could we be absolutely sure what Allah was saying without the vowels? It seemed like a completely illogical system. My teacher got really mad at me and asked how I dared call Allah illogical. And she was a Jew, go figure.

1
"In reality, Muslims are threatening to assassinate the Pope."
So you have some people who say they are Muslim that are threatening to kill the Pope.
But really they are going against thier religon by doing such a thing. So are they now Muslim? Or something entirely different.
I see these extremists the same way i see evangalists. They scare the hell outta me, all they do is make themselves and thier beliefs look bad.
Look up things such as Christian Identity, i know they are not evangelical but still look it up. I fear them more than Osama.
I bet you most Christians hate what these Christian Identity people do and would u say they are Christian? Im gonna guess no. Treat these few that use Islam as an excuse the same as them.

Posted by: Philly at September 18, 2006 01:47 PM (fhEBx)

2
Point taken, Philly. But my guess, not based on data because it's hard to come by, is that there are more Muslims who think the Pope should die than there are Christian Identity folks.

Posted by: Sarah at September 18, 2006 03:14 PM (YL5y0)

3
Im not trying to compare numbers here since its hard to estimate im just saying not to lump them into a big group. You see a bunch of protestors against the Pope sure that looks like alot but 99% of the rest of them are sitting at home watching on tv thinking wow what on earth are they doing?!?!
The world is screwed up enough as is, and throwing gas on the fire doesnt help. You have to take into account that the Muslim people are practially up against the wall fighting for some kind of acceptance now. The problem with this is that a lot will lash out as any normal human being would do. This is what i beleive we are seeing.
And by the way there are alot of Christian Identity and other sorts of that kind, Lords Resistance Army, National Liberation Front of Tripura, and many others, it just doesnt make good news hearing about Christians slaughtering thousands of people and forcing childern as sex slaves or to be soldiers in this day in age. Yes that stuff is happening right now on a massive scale. All in the name of God........
Does this make Christians bad? Nope does it make these people bad? I would say so.
I would also like to say from what I have read here that my views are a fair bit different than what I've read. Like I said different not wrong, im not posting to start an arguement just trying to give a new perspective.

5
"The world is screwed up enough as is, and throwing gas on the fire doesnt help. You have to take into account that the Muslim people are practially up against the wall fighting for some kind of acceptance now. The problem with this is that a lot will lash out as any normal human being would do. This is what i beleive we are seeing."
Well, thank god most of us have 20-20 vision on this instead of the myopic Mr. Magoo clarity you bring to the situation.
Uh, maybe they are against the wall because they've complacently and smugly allowed these well armed nuts to forward and define their religion? As long as they were ultimately under control, of course. Now they're not -NOW they're finally going too far over the line. But it's too late. And for the record, lashing out and killing a nun because you don't like WORDS is not lashing out like a two year old - it's called murder in civilized parts of the world.
Some people can rationalize anything, I guess. Thanks for the perspective, and yes, your views justifying murder and threats are very different.
I'm with Sarah, numbers ARE important. Christians don't consider it a victory when mad fringe Christians kill or enslave. We don't applaud it behind the doors of our church. We don't invite crazy frothing bearded freaks to speak from our pulpits about the next way to kill the infidels. We don't say that all followers of Islam are evil and must be destroyed.
Some Christian churches might ban homosexuals from joining their church, but we don't KILL them. Can you see that distinction?
The Lord's Resistance Army has pagan and muslim members. Their goal is to set up a new government in Uganda based on the ten commandments. The National Liberation Front of Tribpura is found in India and is a Christian organization. If they are using killing and slavery to forward their agenda, have you twigged yet on the fact that they are located in countries that have violent Muslim populations? That maybe they're "lashing out" because they are "against the wall?"
If you pray, pray that this doesn't happen in the United States. That we are not faced with being forced to violence to defend our lives and government. A few years ago I would not have written a post this strong. But viewing the ever creeping threat and change in Europe has convinced me that the U.S. is also at risk.

Posted by: Oda Mae at September 18, 2006 09:17 PM (dX1s6)

6
Do you think people in WW2 sat around debating the virtues of Nazism vs. Democracy? I don't think so - I think they just joined the army, went to battle and won the war. That's because it was a real war with a real aggressor and real things to fight for, whereas the GWOT, I now realize, is just another theological debate. Watching people try to fight fundamentalism with more fundamentalism leaves me feeling empty and a little bit sick. So congratulations on making you blog into a mini-LGF sarah.

Posted by: Will at September 19, 2006 12:02 AM (H4u2c)

7
Will -- What does LGF (or me) have to do with fundamentalism? Show me a single instance where Charles Johnson advocates Christianity! Show me where I have done it either!
It's all too simple to break this down into a religious war. It's a cop out. This current war is an ideological war, like the Cold War. Why more people aren't taking it seriously is beyond me.

Posted by: Sarah at September 19, 2006 01:55 AM (YL5y0)

8
Do you truly believe the entire muslim community is for the attack and praise killing that nun? My point with those other groups is that im saying they say they are christian but christians say they arent. Don't you think most muslims are the same way?
And by the way this quote "We don't say that all followers of Islam are evil and must be destroyed." We do have extremist Christian groups who believe god will not come back to earth until every non-christian is killed. They do preach the killing of others.
When they say these guys are extremists they really mean that they are extremists. They are not working on the teachings of Islam they have scewed it so they can use it to justify whatever they want.
Are you gonna condem the muslims who live down the road simply by thier religon?
Would you be happy if they were all put on a boat and forced to leave the country?
If so go back to Nazi Germany and think it over. I truly hope thats not how you feel.
All im trying to say is dont hate someone cause of thier religon. These people you see on TV, sure go ahead hate them but not all muslims are that way. There are bad seeds in all reglions. The world is facing a large portion of those bad seeds right now.

Posted by: Philly at September 19, 2006 02:29 AM (fhEBx)

9
Actually, Will, until December of 1941 most people wanted little to do with the "real aggressors". America First organization ring a bell? Japan had been conquering and murdering in Asia for nearly a decade. Hitler had run all over Europe for over two years. People went just joined the army, went to battle and won the war only after it was clear they were coming after us. The hindsight of history is black and white to us now. The biggest difference in my view was that people in 1939 didn't have any idea of what was happening in Polish Ghettos or at Nanking. Now we know exactly what Iranian Mullahs and Saudi clerics plan to do. Recreate the holocaust that, as you said, was an obvious reason for just war in the 1940s. What's different now? Bush hatred. No matter what a fanatical muslim nutjob says, no matter how vile and evil their language, Bush is somehow just as bad. Go watch some videos from MEMRI and tell me that George Bush or even Jerry Fallwell is THAT twisted and wrong. Even if he were that crazy, Jerry Fallwell doesn't have a nuclear weapon...Ahmadinejad will soon.

Posted by: Mike D at September 19, 2006 12:43 PM (YL5y0)

10
Get some perspective you frothing warmongers:
Civilians killed at WTC attacks: 2752
Civilians killed in July and August in Iraq: 6599
And you're trying to convince me that Muslims are coming for us... Look, it's obvious that we're the ones going for them and killing them on a mass level. Just go to the current BBC homepage and read the story titled "Iraq torture worse after Saddam." This whole thing is something that history will probably look back on as the American Holocaust.
And the saddest part about it is that the more innocent muslims we kill and torture, the more extremists we'll create. Every time I hear on the news that so-and-so number was killed, I multiply that by an average family size of four and think about all the terrorists Bush is making and then I seriously fear for the future of my children.
Karma is real Mike D. We're all going to have to pay for this.

I remember my grammar professor talking about an interesting facet of the English language. We have two meanings behind the words "I'm sorry": one is in the sense of "this was my fault" and the other is "I am sympathetic that this happened to you." That is how your friend can tell you his house burned down and you say "I'm sorry" while obviously not being guilty. It is my understanding -- based on my limited experience with foreign languages -- that this distinction is more clear in other languages, usually with two different phrases to express the different meanings. For example, in Swedish you can say "Förlåt mig", which means "forgive me" when it's your fault, but you'd say something more like "Det är trakigt" for sympathy, which loosely can translate as "that sucks". I used to try to say "Jag är ledsen" for "I'm sorry", but my friend said I was always using it wrong because it never carried quite the meaning I was striving for when I tried to use it for sympathy. (Maybe Amritas can shed more light on the topic, especially if I'm misinformed.)

Anyway, as my professor explained to us, this is how we can apologize without apologizing. The Pope can say he's sorry (that Muslims are reacting in such a violent way) without saying he's sorry (that he quoted Manuel II Paleologos in a long speech about rationality in religion).

There are two "I'm sorry"s in English, and apparently the Muslims know the difference. Because they're still ticked, which is why they say things like

We shall break the cross and spill the wine ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome ... (May) God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen.

Goddamit, maybe it's time they apologize to us. To the Pope. And for the nun they shot in the back. And the churches they burned down.

I was finishing up some laundry when I heard a news segment on the TV about Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb. Apparently he wrote some article in 1979 called "Women Can't Fight", in which he said that he'd never met a woman who could lead men in combat and that they shouldn't be admitted to the Naval Academy. So now that he's running for office, this stuff is surfacing and reporters are wondering why he doesn't apologize for writing this article. Got that? Reporters want him to apologize. (Well, so do women in the Navy, but that's beside the point for this blog post.) Apparently after his debate, they pressed him to offer a blanket apology for his remarks.

I don't know Webb from shinola, but I think this whole thing is weird. He wrote something in 1979 that might not have been that shocking given our military norms at the time. Since then, he has grown with the times and altered his position a little. Apparently he's since apologized for any difficulties women might've faced at the Naval Academy in light of his words. He also is apparently "'completely comfortable' with women's roles in today's military." So the short story is that his view of women has changed a bit since 1979. Pardon me if I don't think we should stop the presses.

Here's what I don't get, why I'm bothering to blog this. I wish I had recorded the reporter's exact wording of this story, but he said something to the effect that people were pressing Webb to retract his 1979 statement. They want him to publicly state that he doesn't believe what he wrote then. And it seems to me that he's doing just enough to hedge his statements so that it would appear that he still holds the same view to a certain extent but doesn't want to seem anti-woman or even anti-women in the military. He thinks they're fine in certain leadership positions but not leading men in combat. (I hope I'm not putting words in his mouth here, but this is just what I'm surmising by reading between the lines.)

So reporters are clamoring for him to retract his previous beliefs, even though they seem to still be his beliefs. That is to say, they want him to lie. They want him to come out and say that he doesn't believe all that malarky he thought back in the 70s, heavens no, women are fabulous. Why do they want him to say this? Why do they want him to lie?

Let's leave aside the fact that they're the Media and he's a Democrat, OK?

Don't we want politicians who tell the truth? I know every politician will gloss over things and sugarcoat stuff and hand us rose-colored glasses to look through. We all know this. But we don't want them to flat out lie and say that they believe in something when they truly don't. If Webb holds a belief that's unpopular or not P.C., the voters have a right to make a choice based on what the man believes. The media shouldn't hound him to apologize for something he's not actually sorry about just to make himself look better.

Why do we want all these people to apologize all the time? This comes while I'm still festering over the hubbub the Pope has caused. The Pope doesn't need to apologize for quoting some medieval text that's actually right on the money. As one Turkish columnist said, "You would think that the Pope had spent his whole speech attacking Islam. The Pope is the Pope. We didnt expect him to praise Islam." So he can apologize for hurting people's feelings -- as Webb did -- but why this rush to get him to retract, to take it all back, to act like he never actually believed the thing he said? He's the freaking Pope! He's the head of a completely different religion; why on earth should he be expected to be nicey-nice with a religion that's *not true* according to the beliefs of his religion? Lord knows the imams say far worse things about Jews and Christians every single day.

But you know what? If you don't like what the Pope said, or what Webb said, then talk about it on your blog or in your Bible study or at your dinner party. But would it really make us feel better for them to lie to us and say they never meant to say these things? That's ridiculous.

You can't take it back and you shouldn't have to. Don't say something controversial and then just cave when people call you on it. It doesn't really help; just ask Lawrence Summers. And the media, or American society, or whomever we want to blame this on needs to lay off and stop calling for people to freaking apologize. We need for more people to tell the truth and say it like it is in this ridiculous world of ours, not be afraid that they might bring the house down with their words. We need to stop stifling people from saying what they really believe!

You don't like what Webb said? Don't vote for him. It's that simple.
(Actually, just don't vote for him: he's a Democrat. Heh.)

Chances are if you're a military spouse you know what Military.com is. Well, did you know that they host milblogs? And did you know that Andi from Andi's World got the great idea to urge them to host a spouse blog?

Anyway, I know a lot of Army spouses from our old post read this blog, and I know other folks have come here in the past looking for information on deployment (that's you, Terri and CaliValleyGirl). I just want to point out that this new milspouse blog at Military.com intends to be a wealth of spouse information. I recommend that you check it out and contribute to the dialogue.

September 17, 2006

ANNIKA RULES

My husband's reaction to the Muslim Brotherhood demanding a personal apology from the Pope: "Just who in the hell do these people think they are?" I think that sums up the influence Islam knows it has over the West these days.

Annika has a good roundup of what she's calling "the next 'cartoon' riots." My favorite bit is this quote she found from an Indonesian protest organizer:

Of course as we know the meaning of jihad can only be understood by Muslims . . . Only Muslims can understand what jihad is. It is impossible that jihad can be linked with violence, we Muslims have no violent character.

2
Muslims have got to get a sense of humour about their beliefs. They basically kill people who disagree with them. That's messed up, and I don't need the pope to tell me that.
They remind me of those goth kids in high school who'd act all depressed all the time (like they have any more right than the rest of us) and would become seriously offended if you in any way made light of their "alternative" (but strictly uniformed) lifestyle.
More importantly, why do they care if non-muslims think Mohammed was a fruit? We're not practicers of that faith, so unless they're trying to convert us all, why do they care?
I'm an atheist and everything I wrote applies to christians as well - but I at least respect the fact that christians know they're a joke and don't fight it.

Posted by: Will at September 17, 2006 12:27 PM (H4u2c)

3
Will-I think it has something to do with "shame cultures" vs "guilt cultures." For a member of of a shame culture, external perception is everything, and being disrespected--by anyone--is a horrible thing.
I doubt if very many Christians would agree with the last part of your comment.

September 15, 2006

RACE RELATIONS

I've been thinking more about my post from yesterday, and I can't help but think that this simple act of buying a greeting card has encapsulated my view of race relations.

My college roommate (whom I've written about before) was afraid to walk across campus alone because she thought she'd be lynched. I am not making that up. I invited her to a party one night with some of my friends, and she kept asking me if it would be OK and if my friends would think it was weird. The next day, she said how much fun she had had and how accepted she felt. Well, duh. But she said that there was no way on earth that she would've taken me to one of her friends' parties, because none of them would've accepted me. But we white people are supposed to be the racist ones.

I always end up depressed when I watch Dave Chapelle, Chris Rock, or other black comedians. I hope it's just schtick, but they seem to roll with the idea that all white people have an inner klansman. That we all secretly hate black people and can't stand to be around them. Well, if we've given any vibes that we don't want to be around them, I believe it's usually because we're scared to death that we'll offend them. In my reality, most white people bend over backwards to never ever ever do anything that could mildly be construed as offensive or racist when there's a Person Of Color in the room. We walk on eggshells to make sure we don't say anything rude. That is what's happening today between the races: white people are scared to death of hurting black people's feelings. That's how two French kids ended up as African-Americans.

You know what the conclusion to my card buying experience was? After I walked away from the rack, I thought that I might like to get another copy of the same card. Good cards are hard to come by, and I always like to have nice ones on hand. I went back to the rack and found a black lady perusing the cards. And I walked away. I was too nervous to walk my sour cream ass up to the Mahogany section and stand side by side with her to pick out cards. I was afraid of what she'd think of me. I was afraid that, rather than having her think "Cool, this white girl thinks it's OK to send a card with a black face on the front", she would wonder why in the hell some white girl has to come into her card section when there's two whole aisles of cards for white people. I think that's what a lot of white people fear these days. I wanted her to think I was cool and hip, but I was afraid that it would backfire and make her dislike white people even more. That's why white people switch off the rap music when they stop at a red light next to a black person. That's why we don't put the collard greens back. We're afraid that the things that could possibly bring us together -- the fact that this woman and I both liked the same greeting cards -- might be used to make us look bad. And so we don't bother to reach out in the first place.

I don't have any idea what it's like to be black, but I know that being white isn't always a piece of cake. We've got a lot of crap floating through our heads every time we encounter a black person, crap that I hope someday we won't have to waste time worrying about.

1
You are soo right. And I'll tell you, when my southern accent peaks out, it's even worse. It shows when I'm nervous, which is usually when I'm meeting someone new. For business? Yeah, makes it very difficult sometimes.....

2
I don't even think about offending people. I always try to treat others the way I want to be treated. You really can't go wrong that way. There will always be people of every race who will have an attitude, and anything you do or say will upset them. That's their problem to deal with, not mine, and I personally refuse to wear a coat of guilt.

3
Sarah, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. Just like the comment yesterday that said there are no racists only people who don't know any better... black people can be the same way. Some of us were reared to believe that all whites are racist... and some of us believe that. But, the smart ones know better.

Posted by: Terri at September 15, 2006 11:12 AM (cgjLF)

4
I must be the most oblivious person in the whole world. None of this would occur to me. My only issue with the card section is if someone is standing and blocking the section I would like to look at. Otherwise, I'm so focused on getting the job done (in this case buying a card) I don't have the time or energy to worry about what anyone else is thinking about my buying habits.
Not to mention, if I pick up an item mistakenly (which I do periodically because I don't always read labels like I should...) I have no hesitation in telling the checker that I don't want it (if I notice before I get home). How it makes one racist to want spinach when you came to the store to buy spinach... it's beyond my comprehension.
So far I haven't been called for any sort of racist behavior in a store. It's too much work to worry about everyone else and what they might be thinking. Unless the person outright gets in my face (something that has never happened to date in my life), I'm assuming they shop the same way I do... for what they want. If I don't care what they buy, why should they care what I buy?

5
Jay Leno touched on it in his monologue last night. He mentioned the current "Survivor" show that has created tribes according to race. He complained that all the races can cheer on their groups except whites. It's okay for African-Americans to yell, "Go, Blacks!" But it sure sounds bad if a White American yells, "Go Whites!" Nope, not fair at all.
Funny thing about racism, I've always encountered it in the places I least expect it.
I'm Asian but have always considered myself an American that just happened to be Asian. I have been criticized by others for not referring to myself as an Asian-American. But I think I have more in common with people in Texas than in the far east. Especially if you saw me wearing my Stetson, drinking a beer, and listening to Toby Keith. I do drive a pick-up, am a NRA Life Member but I don't chew tobacco.
Okay, let me get to my observation: I've encountered open racism here in the Northwest and in the Northeast. But I've never seen a hint of it in the South. I've experienced the most racism in Hawaii, China, and Japan. Go figure!
R

Posted by: R at September 16, 2006 01:32 PM (Mn1rm)

6
"she would wonder why in the hell some white girl has to come into her card section"
We seem to be more segregated every day. Why not put ALL the birthday, anniversary, get well etc. cards together. Shouldn't matter if the picture on the front is black or white.
I have friends who are black (sigh, even that statement has racial overtones, because of PC idiocy)and hispanic etc. etc.
I tend to lean a little conservative politically and socially. Sometimes when I'm talking with one of my black friends I will be hesitant about expressing my POV; they might take the opposite liberal view and I'm afraid of looking like a racist. Then when they say something that is consistant with my thoughts, I'm surprised. I hate that I do this, but, there it is. Are we so programmed to think that all minorities are liberal thinkers by the media? By being told on a daily basis that external differences outweigh internal similarities? I just try to be the kind of friend that I would like to have.

Posted by: Pamela at September 16, 2006 01:47 PM (HRfF5)

7
i have a fitting story to share:
an important detail: the school my children go to is a magnet school where the students are determined by a lottery system. the school is located in an area of town that is at least 95% black.
now, onto the story:
while standing in the front of the school, waiting for my children to emerge with about 30 other non-black parents and about 10 parents who were, a car approaches the school with the music blaring. not just any car - a metallic gold, 1970-something cadillac, with ALL kinds of flash and 'bling'. not just any music - rap. and not the fun, bouncy kind. f* you, n* --over and over and over LOUD! the bell rings, traffic is backed up and at barely a crawl. children are spewing out of the school, the cadillac is now sitting directly in front of the school, still blaring it's filth. 30 parents and now teachers and even the principal stand frozen on the school lawn, staring. every person terrified to tell this young man to turn his crap down. not fearing this young black male in his 'do-rag' and 'wife-beater', but fearing what will be thought of them for approaching this young man. would it be racist to ask him to turn it down? the children, for crying out loud! after 1/2 a second of worry of what the black parents were going to think of me...i did it. marched my white self right over to his car, leaned in a bit, and asked him to "please turn it down. the kids are all getting out of school and this is very inappropriate language"
"oh, sure thing, ma'am." was his reply, and he turned it off. perfectly nice young man (with horrible taste in music-just my opinion).
i'm still angry about the whole thing. i wouldn't have had that 1/2 second hesitation had it been a young white man in a truck. it's all so frustrating. damn eggshells! this guy was in the wrong, no matter his color. it's juat a shame that we're all so frozen by being PC and not hurting anyone's feelings, that parents aren't even protecting their children.
what IS the next step? how can this all be stopped? my children are 1/2white and 1/2 hispanic - i don't want people to feel the need to walk lightly around them because of their mixed heritage. ugh! it's just nuts

Posted by: Rebecca at September 17, 2006 11:32 AM (YL5y0)

8
I did the same thing you did a few years ago - I found one card in the store that said what I wanted to for a friend's wedding, and so I bought it.
As I was signing it in the car, one of my other friends who was with me started laughing because I had bought the Mahogany card - I hadn't noticed. This was year 3 or 4 of my being in the US; I didn't know there were racially segregated greeting cards.
I gave it to the friend anyway - wrote a note in it saying 'apparently this is a Black-person card; I didn't notice when I bought it, but I like what it says. I hope you do too.'
Tis weird how everything has become politically charged these days.

September 14, 2006

HESITATION

I love stationery and cards, so I always spend time looking for just the right thing to send. As I was looking at cards today, I came across one that was really nice. The photo was classy, the words were not schmaltzy, and it was the card I wanted to buy. But I hesitated...and then shrugged it off...and then hesitated again...and then finally bought it. I decided my hesitation would make an interesting question to pose on my blog: Would you think it was weird if your white friend sent you a Mahogany card? Or would you even notice? If you're white, would you buy a Mahogany card? And if you're black, would you send a Mahogany card to a white friend? If I send it, will I look like I'm "trying too hard to not be racist"? And if I don't send it, will I look racist?

1
I went through the same hesitation several months ago. It took me forever to find a card that exactly expressed what I wanted to say, and then when I found it, it was a Mahogany card. I hesitated as well, but ended up buying it anyway, because it had the perfect sentiment - but I always wondered if the recepient noticed - or thought it was weird.

Posted by: Jen D at September 14, 2006 10:37 AM (D4EDG)

2
I think we've all been conditioned to worry about this stuff way too much. My 21 year old daughter went to the grocery store recently to buy some fresh spinach. When she was checking out and they rang it up, it came up as collard greens and she realized she had grabbed the wrong thing. She was worried it would look racist if she put it back, so she bought it, cooked it and ate it. She said it was good! But I still think the story shows how oversensitive we are. I say send the card if it spoke to you and don't give it a 2nd thought.

4
If your friend is really a friend they won't even notice, but rather appreciate the message inside. Racism is what you or anyone else makes it.
And for the record....I don't know any racist, they are just people who don't know better.
Questions like this are why I love reading your page!
...by the way, I'm half black and I would have put the collard greens back, because I prefer spinach!

Posted by: Vonn at September 14, 2006 03:23 PM (/VoEr)

5
Flowers, kittens, ducks, puppies and stuff like that work better as they provide a path through the stupid-ass P.C. minefield.

6
This is what is wrong with the massively over PC crowd. Now sending something as simple as a Card has turned in to, will this person think I am a racist because of the color of my card. WTF over as long as the card itself is not blatantly racist, i.e. has a burning cross or something like that on it. I would not worry about it. Remember a friend will get you out of jail, but a true friend will be in jail with you going, She did not look like a cop.

7
Found you through Sensless drive by thoughts! I would have to say, from one stationary lover to another, that to me, it would not matter. If it says what I want it to say, I would not have given it a second thought. I probably would not have even noticed to be truthful.

8
I'd like to know if a black person is even writing these sentiments for these cards?
We are all too sensitive. I've bought these cards.
I love 'em

Posted by: Kelly's mom at September 15, 2006 04:44 AM (U+Azr)

9
I know exactly what you mean; we have gone from insensitivity to racism to hyper-sensitivity to even the mere possibility that a racist thought might accidently pass through our mind. I hope we will soon reach the point at which true racists can be alienated by everybody for the jerks they are; and the rest of us can have a conversation (or buy a card) without worrying that someone is going to THINK we are racist.
On the other hand; when some telemarketer calls and makes a comment about my Southern accent the first thing I ask is "What are you some kind of racist?" they usually end up apologizing and promising to take me off their calling list. I have a friend who says I'm a hypocrit for using the same PC crap that I hate just to get rid of someone I don't want to talk to. (OK, they don't have to comment on my accent, I just look for a reason to accuse them of incipient racism. They usually don't even stop to figure out that I'm not black and it has gotten me off more calling lists than the so-called do not call register.)
Sigh....I am not a nice person.

12
"And for the record....I don't know any racist, they are just people who don't know better."
Exactly.
Funny, I am black and I was going to write that the photo (not nec. cartoon) on the card should reflect the race of the recipient (i.e. I wouldn't buy a black person a card with a white person on it)... but then even I hestitated because this made sense to me in the world of black and white... but, I stopped to ask myself if I would be racist if I gave an asian person a card with an asian person on it.
So the answer is... i don't know.

Posted by: Terri at September 15, 2006 11:04 AM (cgjLF)

13
I believe if you like the card, then nothing else shouldn't matter. Go with your first instincts. When people are buying cards they normally look for the card that suits that person, not whether the card is offensive to a race of people. If someone is offended, then their probaly a bit narrow minded, and you can't change that. There The Great One has spoken

September 13, 2006

FLUFF

In ridiculous celebrity news, Britney Spears had her second baby in a year. However, she can't beat my mother-in-law: Britney's babies are 363 days apart; husband and his brother are 357 days apart. Keep tryin', Brit.

And my husband noticed this article that Kevin Costner doesn't approve of the new movie where President Bush gets assassinated. The fact that not thinking the President should be shot is newsworthy and controversial really says something about Hollywood these days.

September 12, 2006

THE BEST 5 MINUTES I SPENT ALL MORNING

LGF found a MEMRI production narrated by Ron Silver called "The Arab & Iranian Reaction to 9/11" that Johnson calls "eye-opening." If you don't have time to sit through 42 depressing minutes of Jew bashing and America hating, let me summarize the first 37 minutes for you: They hate us. But please go over there and at least fast forward to the end of the film. At 36:47, there's a final segment called Reformists. These are the people we want to hear about; these are the Muslim people condemning the conspiracy theories and lamenting that their people were involved in 9/11. Go watch them, and hope there are more of them out there and that they continue to get a voice on Arab television. Be sad that there are 37 minutes of hate-filled voices and only five minutes of sanity, but go listen to those five minutes. They're our only hope.

1
My internet connection sucks too much to watch that. But I wanted to know at least something about Iran, so i went to wikipedia and read their page on the country. Very interesting stuff there, like the fact that Islamic forces from the WEST took over Iran in 600 AD, Islam having risen out of Judaism and Christianity.
In the early 20th century, Iran/Persia remained sovereign and strove towards modernization and social reforms until 1941 when it was taken over by Britian for its oil fields.
The rest of Iran's history in the 20th century involves countries from the West (namely Britain and America) assasinating moderate, democrately elected leaders (who wanted control over their resources) or provoking wars against the country, like the US did by supporting Iraq in the 1980s. (500 000 to 1 000 000 Iranian casualities.)
Anyway, I wish I could watch that video. I bet they really hate us.

Posted by: Will at September 12, 2006 10:00 AM (H4u2c)

2
Yeah, Alexander the Great ruled them a few millenia ago...seems quite reasonable to want to recreate the holocaust in 2006. I can totally sympathize.
The Ottoman empire ruled most of Austria. Maybe the governor of California will call for the extermination of every Turk. It's just as reasonable.

My husband suggested that we commemorate 9/11 by "doing things that would piss bin Laden off." So we had bourbon glazed pork chops for dinner and watched Team America. I drew the line at "wearing a really slutty outfit all day" though.

The internet and television were sad places yesterday. A week ago when I heard some networks were going to rerun their 9/11 coverage, I thought the idea seemed a bit weird. But I must admit that I was glued to MSNBC for hours yesterday morning. First of all, I never saw the real-time coverage five years ago (getting to class on time and all...) Watching the coverage with hindsight was extremely interesting; it was strange to know the exact minute a tower would fall and then wait for Lauer and Couric to notice it. When the second plane hit, all CNN could think was that there must have been a major problem with navigational equipment; no one could even fathom that someone had done this intentionally. So an idea I originally thought was silly turned out to be the best way to mark the anniversary, in my opinion.

I couldn't even begin to read all 2996 tributes; the ones I did read made me too sad to go on. The best part of a tribute I read yesterday? From Uncle Sam Ate My Baby, the blog where I learned about the 2996 project in the first place:

While Mercery Molina hopes that her fathers body will some day be found on the ground, I prefer to think that Manuel didnt fall to the ground with the World Trade Center but rather that he just stepped up to Heaven from the 110th floor since he was so close anyway and just reached out and took hold of the hand of God.

What a comforting image that is. Also Angie's statement that the color of the sky in New York is "red, white and blue."

And thus as it turns to September 12th, we can forget about 9/11 for another year. Last night my husband remarked how sad it is that people are only patriotic on the 4th of July, in love on Valentine's Day, and mad at terrorists on September 11th. He's right: we should be all of those things every day of the year.

3
That last paragraph chocked me up something terrible. You hit that one square on the head.
But I love how you all commemorated the day. PERFECT. But I really think you should have gone with the slutty outfit. Icing on the cake and all. ;-)

4
I watched the MSNBC replay also. I was in Yellowstone when it happened and didn't see TV for a couple of days. But I had NPR on and listened in real time and knew when the first plane went in that we had been attacked. I am almost 70 and I remember Pearl Harbor and it was the same feeling. Even though I was very young in 1941 the enormity of what had happened was clear. Uncles and cousins went to war. I find it hard to believe so many people do not see what we are up against. I feel the politicians who began their immediate drumbeat are responsible for many deaths of our people and the Iraqis.

Posted by: Ruth H at September 12, 2006 10:44 AM (t5hib)

5
Ruth--Could WWII have been won if leaders of the opposition party had embraced the 1940s equivalent of Michael Moore?...some guy who talked about how stupid Americans were and how "heroic" our enemies were? If writers and entertainers had continuously talked about what a bad country we were? If professors had interminably preached moral equivalence?
I'm sure that there were more divisions at the time than in romanticized memory, but I can't imagine that they were anything like what is going on now.

6
In an ongoing effort to thumb my nose at Osama and his gang of murderers... we had pork bratwurst for dinner tonight and I am not wearing hajib or burqua. I think they consider any woman wearing anything less to be dressed like a slut - so that works. *grin*

8
That's awesome! The kids and I all wore red, white and blue, and we had PORK italian sausage for dinner. Can't say that I had a reason to wear anything slutty at any time of the day (or night) though. Don't want to scare off the locals AND bin Laden!

Posted by: AFSister at September 13, 2006 07:19 AM (O0ub1)

9
Excellent! I am in agreement with the others--you should have gone with the outfit, too.

10
Thanks for mentioning my tribute on your blog. Gee, I feel my head growing. My son will be going to Iraq next year, so 9/11 is constantly on my mind. I am proud of the way America honored those that died on this fifth anniversary, but I am WAY proud of the way the blogesphere responded. I guess thats why I like it here online so much. We are a bunch of patriotic people. I've always loved this country and always will. Thanks for the boost.

September 11, 2006

THE COLOR OF THE SKY

My high school English teacher burned the first sentence of the Stephen Crane story "The Open Boat" into our brains: "None of them knew the color of the sky." I always think of this story whenever I think of 9/11 because everyone knows the color of the sky on September 11, 2001. It's usually one of the first things a New Yorker will mention.

For many Americans, 9/11 was immediate. But for some of us, busy with grad school 825 miles west of the World Trade Center, 9/11 took a while to sink in. The lessons were slow in coming for someone who had never been to NYC. I'm ashamed now of how self-centered my life seemed back then, when nothing mattered except getting to class on time.

For most Americans, 9/11 is still not over. For some families, the loss of a loved one will never stop hurting. For those who walk around NYC, the empty sky where the WTC stood will always be obvious. For some, the consequences of 9/11 are subtle but very real: the volunteers who are slowly dying from the death they inhaled that day, the children who are growing up without a parent, and the people who survived the WTC, only to be filled with guilt and anguish over living. My cousin survived the fall of the Towers, waking up in a coma weeks later. She's only now starting to put the pieces of her life back together. The effects are subtle indeed.

And for those of us who only knew about 9/11 from the TV or papers, those of us who woke up to The Way The World Is after those attacks, life will never again be about just getting to class on time.

Today, five years later, I wonder what the color of the sky is over New York City.

1
After rain and clouds early this morning...the sky is as blue today as it was that morning 5 years ago. I'm 2 hours away from New York, and what you mentioned IS the thing I remember the most. That is was a beautiful day. A perfect fall morning. I remember that, and then later...the silence of no air traffic going over my house.

The hole left in the earth at the foot of Manhattan is nothing compared to the hole left in our hearts by Frank Palombo's departure from this earth.
--Steve Kennedy

When you sign up for the 2996 Project, you get an out-of-a-hat name and a photo. I stared at that photo a long time before I started my research, trying to get a feel for Frank Palombo.

All I could think about was how old-timey he looked, how he looked like a man from another era. And when I started reading about him, I realized he was a man from another era.

Frank Palombo met his wife when she was nine and he was 14 [1]. Nine years later they went on a date, and there went Frank's plans of joining the priesthood [2]. Their marriage brought ten children.

Ten children.

My heart dropped when I realized how "famous" Frank Palombo is among 9/11 victims. Major Giuliani himself attended Palombo's funeral and told his children, "Nobody can take your daddy away from you, you know that you are the son and daughter of a great man, a hero, a fallen warrior" [3]. New York Giants coach Jim Fassel has given both his money and his time to help raise the ten Palombo children, inviting them to games and eating dinner at their home [4]. But Frank's wife, Jean, doesn't want to be the famous 9/11 family; she turned down an invitation to be on Oprah [5].

I've been so impressed reading about Jean Palombo. She woke up on 9/11 thinking she was pregnant again. But God didn't bring her another baby that day; instead He took her husband. Through it all, she seems to have remained an incredibly strong woman. I want to weep when she describes her family's new life: "The children are happy because of the father they have, but they miss not being able to play with him, not being able to pray with him, not being able to learn with him, and not being able to be with him" [6].

Look at his photo again. Frank Palombo was a devoted Catholic and public servent. He organized youth group trips to see the Pope [7]. He loved being a father and even wanted more children. He seems more like a Greatest Generation than a Baby Boomer, doesn't he? He was like a man from a simpler time, an older generation that took pride in a strong family and a life of service to others. It's not common to find men like this these days, and I think the world is worse off for losing a man like Frank Palombo.

Remember Frank Palombo today for the simple but full life he led, a life devoted to his faith, family, and fellow men. And remember Jean Palombo and Anthony, Frank Jr., Joseph, Maria, Thomas, John, Patrick, Daniel, Steven, and Margaret Mary.

2
After rain and clouds early this morning...the sky is as blue today as it was that morning 5 years ago. I'm 2 hours away from New York, and what you mentioned IS the thing I remember the most. That is was a beautiful day. A perfect fall morning. I remember that, and then later...the silence of no air traffic going over my house.

4
I love your tribute to this fine man. I especially like that he had 10 children. I am one of 10 and my dad's name was Frank. Also, we have a Frank Jr., a Joseph, a John Patrick, a Margaret and a Mary in our family. Yeah, good Catholics. Thanks for a nice tribute.

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There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living.--The Count of Monte Cristo--

While our troops go out to defend our country, it is incumbent upon us to make the country worth defending.--Deskmerc--

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Contrary to what you've just seen, war is neither glamorous nor fun. There are no winners, only losers. There are no good wars, with the following exceptions: The American Revolution, WWII, and the Star Wars Trilogy.--Bart Simpson--

If you want to be a peacemaker, you've gotta learn to kick ass.--Sheriff of East Houston, Superman II--

Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. You just leave a lot of useless noisy baggage behind.--Jed Babbin--

Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.--President John F. Kennedy--

War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours.--General Patton--

Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed.--Dick Cheney--

The Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive.--Col Steven Arrington--

The purpose of diplomacy isn't to make us feel good about Eurocentric diplomatic skills, and having countries from the axis of chocolate tie our shoelaces together does nothing to advance our infantry.--Sir George--

I just don't care about the criticism I receive every day, because I know the cause I defend is right.--Oriol--

It's days like this when we're reminded that freedom isn't free.--Chaplain Jacob--

Bumper stickers aren't going to accomplish some of the missions this country is going to face.--David Smith--

The success of multilateralism is measured not merely by following a process, but by achieving results.--President Bush--

Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life.
--John Galt--

First, go buy a six pack and swig it all down. Then, watch Ace Ventura. And after that, buy a Hard Rock Cafe shirt and come talk to me. You really need to lighten up, man.
--Sminklemeyer--

If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained -- we must fight!--Patrick Henry--

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.--President George W. Bush--

are usually just cheerleading sessions, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing but a soothing reduction in blood pressure brought about by the narcotic high of being agreed with.--Bill Whittle

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill--

We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.--General George Marshall--

We can continue to try and clean up the gutters all over the world and spend all of our resources looking at just the dirty spots and trying to make them clean. Or we can lift our eyes up and look into the skies and move forward in an evolutionary way.
--Buzz Aldrin--

America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world.
--Dinesh D'Souza--

Recent anti-Israel protests remind us again of our era's peculiar alliance: the most violent, intolerant, militantly religious movement in modern times has the peace movement on its side.--James Lileks--

As a wise man once said: we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Unless the price is too high, the burden too great, the hardship too hard, the friend acts disproportionately, and the foe fights back. In which case, we need a timetable.
--James Lileks--

I am not willing to kill a man so that he will agree with my faith, but I am prepared to kill a man so that he cannot force my compatriots to submit to his.
--Froggy--

You can say what you want about President Bush; but the truth is that he can take a punch. The man has taken a swift kick in the crotch for breakfast every day for 6 years and he keeps getting up with a smile in his heart and a sense of swift determination to see the job through to the best of his abilties.
--Varifrank--

In a perfect world, We'd live in peace and love and harmony with each oither and the world, but then, in a perfect world, Yoko would have taken the bullet.
--SarahBellum--

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.--Ronald Reagan--

America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for. It will probably be interesting, and it is sure to be large.--E.M. Forster--

Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse.--Mark Twain--

The Enlightenment was followed by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, which touched every European state, sparked vicious guerrilla conflicts across the Continent and killed millions. Then, things really turned ugly after the invention of soccer.--Iowahawk--

Every time I meet an Iraqi Army Soldier or Policeman that I haven't met before, I shake his hand and thank him for his service. Many times I am thanked for being here and helping his country. I always tell them that free people help each other and that those that truly value freedom help those seeking it no matter the cost.--Jack Army--

Right, left - the terms are useless nowadays anyway. There are statists, and there are individualists. There are pessimists, and optimists. There are people who look backwards and trust in the West, and those who look forward and trust in The World. Those are the continuums that seem to matter the most right now.--Lileks--

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
--Winston Churchill--

A man or a nation is not placed upon this earth to do merely what is pleasant and what is profitable. It is often called upon to carry out what is both unpleasant and unprofitable, but if it is obviously right it is mere shirking not to undertake it.--Arthur Conan Doyle--

A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the existing of better men than himself.--John Stuart Mill--

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference."--Dave Grossman--

At heart I’m a cowboy; my attitude is if they’re not going to stand up and fight for what they believe in then they can go pound sand.--Bill Whittle--

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.--Alexander Tyler--

By that time a village half-wit could see what generations of professors had pretended not to notice.--Atlas Shrugged--

I kept asking Clarence why our world seemed to be collapsing and everything seemed so shitty. And he'd say, "That's the way it goes, but don't forget, it goes the other way too."--Alabama Worley--

So Bush is history, and we have a new president who promises to heal the planet, and yet the jihadists don’t seem to have got the Obama message that there are no enemies, just friends we haven’t yet held talks without preconditions with.
--Mark Steyn--

"I had started alone in this journey called life, people started
gathering up on the way, and the caravan got bigger everyday."--Urdu couplet

The book and the sword are the two things that control the world. We either gonna control them through knowledge and influence their minds, or we gonna bring the sword and take their heads off.--RZA--

It's a daily game of public Frogger, hopping frantically to avoid being crushed under the weight of your own narcissism, banality, and plain old stupidity.--Mary Katharine Ham--

There are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms
of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.--James Madison--

It is in the heat of emotion that good people must remember to stand on principle.--Larry Elder--

Please show this to the president and ask him to remember the wishes of the forgotten man, that is, the one who dared to vote against him. We expect to be tramped on but we do wish the stepping would be a little less hard.--from a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt--

The world economy depends every day on some engineer, farmer, architect, radiator shop owner, truck driver or plumber getting up at 5AM, going to work, toiling hard, and producing real wealth so that an array of bureaucrats, regulators, and redistributors can manage the proper allotment of much of the natural largess produced.--VDH--

Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves.--Marcelene Cox--